Navy works to protect endangered whales

Published Sunday, December 24, 2000

JACKSONVILLE (AP) -- As right whales are making their annual migration to calving grounds off the Florida and Georgia coasts, the Navy is working to protect the endangered species from colliding with its ships.

Only about 300 right whales are known to exist and the Navy has set up a department in Jacksonville known as the Whale Fusion Center to track and report the location of whales and their calves spotted off the coast. The center will notify ships from Mayport Naval Station and submarines from Kings Bay Submarine Base in St. Marys, Ga., about areas to avoid.

''The Navy is doing everything it can to save this endangered species,'' said Bob Nelson, an environmental public affairs officer with the Navy's Southeast Region.

Adult whales can reach sizes up to 55 feet long and weigh about 50 tons and calves can be up to 20 feet long. The whales have distinctive v-shaped blow holes, no dorsal fins, short and broad flippers and deeply notched tail flukes. They eat tiny crustaceans and krill.

While most whales are spotted during calving season from Dec. 1 through March 31, the first whale to enter the area was spotted Nov. 17, about five miles off the coast of Savannah, Ga.

Since then there have been 32 other sightings, an unusually high number for this time of year.

For the four-month season last year, only 52 sightings were reported, Nelson said.

Four whales were spotted in one sighting on Dec. 6. There have been several sightings of whales with calves.